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What a crazy year 2014 has been……
Our totals are in:
29 Weddings
87 Non Wedding Shoots (Engagement, Family, Corporate, Senior, Etc) from April 1 to November 29
5 Corporate Videos shot for Key Films
Countless Wedding Videos shot
The above is also in addition to the 2-40 hour jobs that Doug and I maintain M-F. Its safe to say we had a very successful and exhausting year and we loved it! We are ready to into 2015 full steam ahead but there will be some changes…..
First we will share with you some personal details of the year. We started the year off slow with a wedding here and there mostly because we took so many weddings in December of last year that we were needing a break. We took our first big trip of the year to Aruba where we spent a glorious relaxing week and then we flew straight from Aruba to Phoenix to shoot our second wedding of the year. Once we came back our wedding season officially started and ran through the end of November. We managed to get in another week long vacation to the Canadian side of the Niagara Falls and then a long overdue trip down to North Carolina to see my family. I (Kate) ended the year with my mother on a birthday trip to NYC. Life on our end has been pretty hectic until now but we are now enjoying time with each other and our Dog, Charlie Key. We had many great moments and gatherings with our friends and family.
2015 is going to be just as nuts as 2014 but we will be making some changes. We have hit the wall of reality in realizing there is only one Kate and one Doug and although our goal in business is to make everyone happy and accommodate all we have found that is nearly impossible for us. We took a hard look at our life and realized that we both liked our full time jobs and that we wanted photography to continue to be successful but that we would have to be realistic about our schedule. This year, we weren’t so much. We took in about 10 more family sessions this year than we did in previous years but we did so in a shorter time span. In October alone, I had over 25 family/senior/engagement sessions which when you count in the weddings is almost every day of that month. I don’t mind staying busy, those that know me know that I hate to be bored but this year we are taking a more realistic approach to our schedules.
What does this mean? This means we are going to continue to book up as early as usual. Our bookings for family/senior photos is roughly 5-6 months in advance. We realize that’s not convenient for everyone but we give priority to those who book early. If and when we have cancellations, we will pull from a wait list that we maintain throughout the year for families wishing to have photos done through us. I really wish there were two of me so that I could get in ALL of the family inquiries that we have but we have to face the music. Throughout this year we took on 2 family sessions and 1 engagement session each Sunday (with a wedding on Saturday) and we did this from roughly April to mid November. We made the agreement (with the exception of October) that we wouldn’t take sessions mid week as we need that time to edit and maintain the other aspects of the business. This ran us pretty thin towards the end of the year and although we were able to get photos returned in a timely manner we knew we couldn’t continue like that for much longer. We want to continue taking family photos but we know with the reality of life we are going to be able to serve only a handful of the inquiries that we have.
On a more positive note, we maintained an excellent turnaround time this year. It was slightly longer than last years but we also took on more sessions this year than prior. Weddings were returned completely (video and pictures) at an average of 1 month and 1 week from the wedding date. We had a few weddings creep into the 1 month and 2 week time frame but we never came close to the 2 month deadline that we set for ourselves. On average family photos/engagement/ and senior photos were returned in 2-3 week time frame. We like the idea of our clients not having to wait long periods of time for their memories but we also like providing quality editing so we have hopefully found that comfortable balance that makes everyone happy.
Another issue that will play into our schedule this year will be travel. We have a lot of it planned. We will be posting our availability for family sessions as we know these plans but I can tell you there will be a two week period in the fall where we will be completely unavailable. We have been planning this trip in our minds for a long time and 2015 is the year! We are so thankful for the support and opportunity that we have received with our photography and videography over the last few years. So many people support us and are in our corner and we appreciate it more than we can express in words. We hope 2015 brings more amazing weddings and friendships.
Happy New Year to All!
-Kate and Doug
